GreenTinted Affection
by RawrTwisted
Summary: Hogwarts; Marauders era. Relationships are blooming, but the Green-Headed Monster just can't stay away, and he's a tad angrier than he usually is.
1. And So It Begins

_Here's the thing; I love writing, but, as I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo, I can't start writing my novel until November, and I have all this...energy stored up, and I need to write something before I explode, so I figured, I'd take a stab at writing fanfiction. I've written for characters before (Buffy/Angel/HP/etc), and I don't think I'm too bad, but that's for you guys to decide! I have this all pretty much planned out, and I've already started the second chapter, so, if you guys like it, let me know, and I'll try and finish Chapter 2 sooner, and if you don't, offer some constructive criticism, please. The plot doesn't really thicken for a couple more chapters, but these chapters are all necessary to set it up. Reviews please?  
And yes, I did invent Pru and Sarah._

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**Green-Tinted Affection**

**Chapter 1**

Remus Lupin entered the Gryffindor common room clutching the piece of parchment on which his Defence Against the Dark Arts essay was written, his book bag slung across his body. He could hear some of his fellow fifth years arguing, and he wearily returned the parchment to his bag, sighed, and sat in an armchair, ready to try and resolve the argument.

"You're a conceited imbecile, Black!" yelled Prudence Caulfield.

"Don't talk to Sirius like that!" came the reply of James Potter.

"Calm down, Prongs, she's just a stuck-up little pratt!" shouted Sirius Black.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about Pru that way!" screamed Lily Evans.

"Oh, so calling me a 'conceited imbecile' is fine?" replied Sirius.

"As far as I'm aware, telling the truth is perfectly acceptable!" answered Evans.

"And it just so happens to be true that you, Sirius Black, are a conceited imbecile!" cried Pru.

"I told you not to talk to him like that!" shouted James.

"Oh Potter, don't act like you're any better! You're ten times more idiotic than Black!" Lily said coldly, her voice raised only slightly above the usual volume for polite conversation. James Potter did not reply; Remus knew that he wouldn't say anything that could in any way hurt Lily Evans.

"May I inquire as to why you're attempting to deafen everybody in Gryffindor tower?" asked Remus. He waited for the valid reason that he knew would not come.

"Because your friends, Potter and Black, are without a doubt the most idiotic, arrogant people to ever be accepted into Hogwarts!" Pru yelled.

"I'm guessing you're not including yourself there, then?!" Sirius called back.

"I actually-" Pru began, but was cut off by Remus.

"Why don't you all just stop embarrassing yourselves and be quiet? Merlin knows you never argue about anything worth getting angry over, and insulting each other isn't getting you anywhere. Just drop it." the werewolf told them.

Prudence and Sirius opened there mouths as if they intended to continue, but quickly snapped them shut when they realised that Lupin was right. They _hadn't_ been arguing over anything important, but it was hard for Sirius and Pru to argue about anything without verbally ripping each other's heads off, and James and Lily were both quick to jump to their friend's aid.

After a moment or two, Lily sat down on the couch, and pulled her rucksack onto her lap. She began digging around in it for parchment and textbooks, and Prudence sat down next to her, her arms folded across her chest, glaring daggers at the opposite wall. Sirius threw himself onto the other end of the couch, and James slid to the floor beside Remus' armchair, and proceeded to charm his miniature quidditch figurines.

Sarah McCarthy, a dark haired, olive-skinned girl was approaching the spot where the five of them sat. She shared a dorm room with the other fifth year girls, and was quite good friends with all of them. She leaned over James and passed Remus the parchment she was holding.

"Here are your notes back, Remus. Thanks, they really helped, I don't have any idea what I'd do without you," she said, a crooked smile playing on her lips.

"No problem, Sarah. Are you sure you don't want to keep hold of them for your essay?" asked the Marauder.

"No thanks, it's half done already, and they're," she pointed at the sheet she'd just returned to Remus, "embedded into my brain anyway."

"Alright, see you tomorrow." He smiled at the girl before returning to the potions text book he'd been pouring over. The girl spun around and walked away. She stepped so elegantly and her hair shimmered as she walked. This did not escape Sirius' attention.

"Pretty girl, eh, Moony?" he said, a smile audible in his voice.

"Hmm?" said Remus, looking up, before the question registered with him. He glanced towards where Sarah sat, helping some first years with homework, and then turned back to his book. "Yeah, s'pose."

Sirius looked at James. Remus did not pay any attention to the opposite gender. He was convinced that any girl he dated would either be;

-angry at him for keeping secrets from her if he didn't tell him about his..._condition_ and where he went every month.

-repulsed and/or terrified if he _did_ tell them about his condition and where he went every month.

Despite the daily encouragement he received from James and Sirius, he dismissed any thoughts of girls the minute they formed in his mind.

"Well, if it doesn't bother you, maybe _I'll_ go after her," said Sirius, a grin appearing on his face.

"Oh no, please don't do that to the poor girl, Remus!" cried Pru. "She's a nice girl, what has she ever done to deserve that?!"

"I'll have you know that I am quite the catch!" said Sirius, putting on his best 'offended face'. Pru snorted at this, and made to leave for the girls' dormitory.

"Lilian dear, will you be joining me?" she asked as she stood.

"Erm, no, I think I'll finish this essay and then I'll be up. See you in a bit." Lily answered. She waited until Pru had gone up to the dormitory, before turning to Remus. "Remus, why _don't_ you go out with Sarah?"

"I just...don't really want...I...she's not really my type." said Moony.

"Go on then, tell us, what is your type?" asked James. Lupin didn't answer. He looked at them all for a minute, before trying to change the subject.

"Where's Peter?" he asked, not caring what the answer was, as long as the subject changed.

"Detention. Filch. Won't be back for ages. Now go on, tell us, what's your type?" said Sirius.

"I don't have a type."

"Then why won't you go out with her? Don't you think she's pretty?"

"No, I mean, she's really nice-looking, but I just don't want to go out with anybody. And I mean...I don't think she dates...I've never seen her with anybody..."

"Doesn't date, eh?" Sirius smiled at this. "Bet you're wrong there. Hogsmeade next weekend, isn't it?"

"Don't, Padfoot, just don't," pleaded Lupin. He could see his friend was about to ask the girl out for him.

"Fine, but the poor girl doesn't deserve to be going alone!"

"If you're thinking of asking her out, she might prefer going alone, mate." James said, smirking. Lily started to laugh, but quickly stopped herself. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing he amused her; that she didn't completely hate him.

"Shut it, Prongs. Bet you five galleons she'd go out with me."

"Nah, I couldn't take your money, Pad!"

"Fine, don't. I'd feel a bit guilty anyway, taking money off you for that. I mean, who could turn _me_ down?" he winked at James.

"If you're so certain, go over there and get it over with, instead of standing over here talking about it with Potter!" Lily said. Sirius smiled, and walked across the common room to where the girl sat; the three Gryffindors watching him.

"Hi Sarah," he said, standing next to table she was kneeling at.

"Bonjour Monsieur Sirius," she said, looking up at him and smiling. She had grey eyes with a tint of blue that showed in some lights, Sirius noticed. It hadn't shown before. It was as if the colour was shy; revealing itself only when she was alone with somebody.

"So," he began, "I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?" He saw her gaze shift briefly to Remus.

"Umm...you're asking me?"

"It would appear so. Unless you're not you. You might not be who I think you are. I'm asking Sarah. Sarah, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?" he said, and she laughed a soft, small laugh, that seemed to make her eyes twinkle.

"Why Sir, I would be honoured if you would allow me to grace you with my presence!" She was standing now. The top of her head was roughly in line with Sirius' nose, and she was peering up at him through her big eyes.

"Why, thank you, m'lady!" he said, taking her hand and kissing it, in a mock gentlemen sort of way. She curtsied at him as he turned and made his way back to his friends, before gathering up her books and heading for the dormitory.

"Ta-da!" he said, grinning. James smirked, and Remus forced a smile. Lily mumbled something along the lines of 'poor girl...', whilst shaking her head and stuffing her books back into her bag.


	2. Hogsmeade

**Green-Tinted Affection**

**Chapter 2**

_Hogsmeade Weekend_

The five Gryffindor fifth year girls sat in the Great Hall together, eating toast and cereal and drinking pumpkin juice. Lily had brought up that Sarah would be going into Hogsmeade with Sirius, and Pru was trying to figure out what had been running through her head when she'd accepted.

"Oh, come on Pru," said Alice Prewett, looking up from her breakfast, "we can all see that you're just jealous." Pru was momentarily lost for words.

"Alice, I despise Sirius Black with all my heart. What could possibly give you the impression that I was jealous?"

"The fact that you despise Sirius Black with all your heart. Smoke screen." Alice answered, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. Mary Macdonald sniggered, and Pru shot her a death glare.

"I do not like Sirius Black."

"Well then why are you so obsessed with pursuing the conversation _about_ Sirius Black?"

"Yeah, Pru, why a_re_ you so obsessed with talking about me? No one could blame you for being in love with me." The four Marauders had made their way down to the Great Hall and sat, unnoticed, next to the girls. Pru shot Sirius and Alice dirty looks, and mumbled "conceited idiot" under her breath, before gulping down the remainder of her pumpkin juice.

"Hey, Lily?" said James. He was sitting two seats away from her, next to Sarah.

"What, Potter?"

"Do you want to go into Hogsmeade with me?"

"No."

"Why?!" James, rather than being used to rejection from Lily Evans by now, sounded hurt at the lack of thought she put into her answer.

"I'm going in with Sev." James shifted his gaze to a greasy haired, sallow skinned boy sitting at the Slytherin table. He was watching the Gryffindor table with envy. Or rather, he was watching the small group of Gryffindors that surrounded Lily Evans with envy. His eyes met James', and he snarled. James' hand twitched, but he did not reach for his wand; not with Lily around. She hated him enough already.

"Alice, are you ready?" A tall boy was standing behind Alice now, his hands rested on her shoulders.

"Mhm, good morning, Frank," she said, smiling as she brushed toast crumbs off her hands and stood up to join him.

"We better get going too," said Pru, standing. Lily, Mary, James, Remus, Peter and Sarah did the same.

"Umm...Sirius?" Sarah asked.

"Wha—but, I'm not done eating!" he said, looking from his friends to his plate of breakfast.

"You can eat in Honeydukes, now come one, Padfoot, you arse!" James laughed, leaning across the table and pulling his friend up. They all exited the Great Hall together.

"Lily!" shouted a voice in the entrance hall. The greasy-haired boy stepped out from a crowd of students exiting the school. His eyes narrowed when he saw The Marauders.

"Hey Sev," she said, walking forward to meet him. "I'll see you all later," she said, looking over her shoulder at her friends, before leaving with Snape, who now had a smug look on his face; Lily still liked him more than Potter.

The trip into Hogsmeade was quiet and uneventful. When they arrived, Alice and Frank left on their own, Pru, Mary, James, Remus and Peter left for Honeydukes, and Sirius took Sarah to The Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer.

"So, Moony," said James when they were inside Honeydukes, picking up a jar of blood lollipops, looking at them, and putting them back onto the shelf, "she doesn't like him, you know."

"Prongs, I don't have any idea what you're talking about," said Remus, looking confused.

"Sarah. She doesn't like Sirius. Sirius doesn't like her. They're just mates."

"Um, good to know?" replied Remus. He tried to act as if it didn't affect him, but his relief showed in his eyes. He hadn't changed his mind; he was still too worried to date, but a small part of him felt differently. Girls tended to fall for Sirius the minute they saw him, and the more stubborn ones usually melted if he did as little as smile at them. He hadn't allowed himself to develop crushes, and so, he hadn't noticed that he had one until he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his stomach when Sirius asked Sarah out, and she had agreed, just like that.

Remus picked up a large bar of Honeydukes chocolate, and made his way to the front counter. Peter followed behind him, his arms filled with bags of sweets and bars of chocolate. James bought 2 bags of sweets, shoved one in his pocket and began eating Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans from the other.

"Where are we going now?" asked Peter, as he struggled to reach one of his chocolate frogs. The sharp wind felt like it was tearing into their flesh, and they were squinting as they fought to walk into it.

"Three Broomsticks?" James asked.

"Three Broomsticks." Remus repeated, answering James with his question. They pushed open the heavy door, and saw Sirius and Sarah sitting at a corner table. Sarah was laughing loudly, but not irritatingly, as Sirius related the story of his latest prank, using his hands to demonstrate explosions and such. Moony, Wormtail and Prongs made their way over to them, as Sirius finished his story.

"Detention for three weeks, but it was worth it!" he ended. James slid in and sat next to Sirius, Remus sat next to Sarah, and Peter next to Remus.

"Hello," Sarah said, smiling at each of the Marauders as they sat down. She had the kind of smile that only worked with her face; that you knew if anybody else smiled like that it wouldn't look half as beautiful as hers.

"Hi," breathed Remus, smiling back softly. He tried not to look at her, choosing instead to stare at the wall behind James.

"Get me anything nice?" asked Sirius, eyeing the large pile of sweets on the table in front of Peter, Remus' chocolate, and the bag of sweets James was holding. Remus watched him suspiciously, before picking up his chocolate bar and putting it in his pocket, and James just laughed and shifted his position, hiding the sweets from Sirius' gaze. He frowned at his friends, and snatched up one of the many bars of chocolate from Peter's pile. Peter didn't object. He snapped off a piece and put it in his mouth, then snapped off another and popped it in Sarah's mouth.

"We need more butterbeer," said Sirius, looking into his and Sarah's glasses. He looked up and saw Remus trying to avoid looking at Sarah, and grinned to himself. "C'mon Prongs, you can help me carry them back. You too, Wormtail." Remus snapped his head up to look at Sirius, giving him a look that seemed to say, '_I will kill you in your sleep!_', but Sirius just winked at him. James, having caught on, kicked Peter.

"C'mon Wormtail, we don't want to spill them!" Peter looked utterly confused, but stood and followed the other two anyway.

Remus, realising he had to say something, pulled his eyes away from his friends backs. He took out his bar of chocolate so he could pull his gaze away as soon as possible, mumbled, "So, err, did you finish your Transfiguration essay?" She turned towards him as he spoke, and her eyes found his. He was momentarily frozen, but he managed to tear his eyes from hers and start breaking up his chocolate. He could feel her eyes on her face, and could tell she was wondering why he wouldn't look at her.

"Umm, yeah, I did. Thanks to your notes. I've done my Defence Against the Dark Arts one, as well," she answered, still watching him curiously.

"Oh, the one where you had to pick a magical creature to write about?" He couldn't help himself from looking up at her. DADA was one of his favourite classes, and he was quite interested now. "Which creature did you pick?"

"Werewolves." Sarah answered, as the other three returned. They didn't know what the conversation was about, and so for a fraction of a second, their eyes all flickered to Remus. He had gone slightly paler, but fortunately, Sarah was taking a glass off Sirius, so she didn't notice.

"Umm, so what are we talking about?" James asked cautiously.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts essay; I wrote about werewolves," she replied, and took a sip from her butterbeer.

"Oh, really? Why did you pick werewolves?" said Sirius.

"Because I could express my opinions on werewolves. People usually stop listening when I bring up werewolves. I think they're misunderstood." Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you think they're misunderstood?" he questioned.

"Because," she said, taking a deep breath, it was obviously a subject she had strong beliefs on, "werewolves are made out to be dirty, vicious, inhumane creatures. What people often seem to forget is that twenty-eight days out of the month, that werewolf is a human being, with human feelings and a human mind, and that they're just like anybody else."

"You don't think werewolves are vicious?"

"I didn't say that. I'm not stupid enough to deny that when a werewolf is in wolf form, they're vicious. That would be ignorant. What I'm saying is, they're also human, and humans can be vicious anyway. It's the likes of Fenrir Greyback who enforce people's beliefs on werewolves." She paused, Remus winced slightly at the mention of Greyback, and then she added, "My patronus is a wolf." Remus' stomach jolted. They all looked at her, quizzically. "Wolves are very misunderstood animals!" she cried. "Did you know that there are more reported cases of horses killing people every year than there ever has been of wolves killing people? Wolves are only vicious when they need to be, like, when their den is threatened or fighting over prey or something!"

Sirius laughed. "Calm down, Tiger! I think we were all wondering how you knew how to produce a patronus, it's NEWT level, isn't it?"

Sarah blushed and looked down at her hands, embarrassed at her slight outburst. "Oh," she mumbled, "well, I read about them in a library book at the end of third year, and then I came across something about them again last year, so I figured I'd have a go...took me a while to get it. I only tried when I was alone in the dormitory, so I didn't get much practice. It was about three quarters of the way through last year when I produced a fully formed patronus." She had been speaking into her lap, and didn't look up until she finished. She tried to hold back the grin that was threatening to spread across her face.

"Impressive," said Sirius after a few moments of silence, grinning at her. She knew Remus was looking at her, but as he was sitting right next to her, she couldn't turn to look without it being obvious she wanted to know whether or not he was impressed. She took a swig of butterbeer just so she had an excuse to look away from the Marauders.

"So," said James, not wanting to fall into silence again, "are you coming to watch the Quidditch match in a couple of weeks? Gryffindor versus Slytherin; first match of the year."

"I haven't missed a match since I've been at Hogwarts, James," she said as if he'd asked the most obvious question in the world, but her tone showed she was light and playful. She let her crooked smile appear on her lips, and the conversation quickly turned to quidditch. She sighed, and leaned back in her seat. James and Sirius were arguing animatedly over a player she hadn't heard of, and Peter was leaning towards them across the table, admiration plastered across his face.

"Not the biggest quidditch fan?" she heard Remus whisper into her ear.

She shook her head. "I like quidditch, honestly. But I don't obsess over it. I love the atmosphere at school matches, but it only really exists for me in school. I love going to watch; I love supporting the Gryffindor team, but the only things I know about quidditch I've learnt at Hogwarts. Anything professional is way beyond my understanding." Remus laughed softly next to her. The five of them were crammed around a table that usually would only hold three, four at most. They were at a table next to the wall, with Sirius, Sarah and Remus' chairs pushed back against the walls, and James' and Peter's chairs with their backs to the bar. There wasn't much room to move, and it was beginning to get quite uncomfortable; everybody's limbs were becoming stiff and an almost numb, tingling sensation was appearing in Sarah, Remus and Sirius' lower backs; the kind that appears just before you get horrible back pain. Sarah shifted her position in her seat, but it just made things worse.

"Why don't we go somewhere else?" she asked the Marauders, "We've all finished our butterbeers and if we don't move from this table, I don't think any of us will be able to walk tomorrow!" There was a murmur of agreement, and they all slid out of their seats and exited the bar.

It wasn't raining outside, but the wind was harsh, sharp and cold. The Marauders-plus-one began walking in the direction they were facing, purely because nobody had specified the destination. James and Sirius walked in front, followed closely by Peter, and Remus and Sarah stayed at the back. They were coming up to a side road when they heard the familiar voice of Lily Evans.

"No, Sev! I'm not spending the day with Avery and Mulciber! You know how I feel about them, and you know perfectly well how they feel about _me!_" They heard Lily arguing with Snape, and heard Snape pleading with her.

"I _told_ them I'd meet up with them, Lil! I really want to spend the day with you, but I promised them! Please, just come with me!"

"Severus, _they don't like my kind_. They think they're better than me! They're evil, Sev. I'm not even exaggerating, they're obsessed with the dark arts! I'm not about to walk in to the Hogs Head and become the guinea-pig they practice all of their curses on! No!" Lily shouted back, and she stormed into the street on which the others were standing. She shot a dirty look at James and Sirius as Snape ran out of the side street, behind her.

"Lily, I-" he stopped talking when he caught sight of the five other Gryffindors, and he took the time to give them all a cold, hard glare. Lily had paused when Severus followed her out, but she seemed to remember she was storming off, and made to march past them all. Sarah grabbed her hand as she walked past, and pulled her towards her. Lily struggled against her pull at first, but gave in; Sarah had a strong hold, and Lily knew she was wasting her energy struggling against her. Snape shifted his gaze to Lily.

"Please?" he asked, his eyes changing from cold and empty to full of affection. Lily just looked at him, and he seemed to take the hint, because he sighed, shot her a look that said '_I'm sorry_', and ran off in the direction of the Hogs Head.

"Are you okay?" Sarah whispered to Lily. She nodded. "Stay with us." It was more of a command than a suggestion, but Sarah said it with friendliness in her voice. Lily glanced towards Sirius and James, and then back to Sarah. "Please? C'mon Lil, they're not that bad. I've actually really enjoyed their company today! Stay, for me?" Lily rolled her eyes, but turned to face the direction they were all facing (kind of, James was talking to Sirius, and he kept glancing back to look at Lily, a sparkle flickering in his eye when he looked at her).

"Where are we going, anyway?" Lily asked. She sounded annoyed, and it was impossible to say whether it was because she had actually agreed to spend time with Potter, or whether she was still upset with Snape. The other five paused, looked at each other, and laughed. They didn't know where they were going, so James said,

"Where do you want to go to, Lily?" He said it sweetly, and she eyed him suspiciously.

"How about Honeydukes? I was going to go with Sev but then he..." she trailed off, so Sarah quickly started talking, sparing her having to continue.

"Yeah, Sirius and I haven't been yet," she said, and Sirius mumbled something about lousy friends not getting him any sweets, "and I don't think these guys would mind going back in, would you?" They shook their heads, even though Peter's pockets were all already full to bursting.

They made their way to Honeydukes in silence, and welcomed the warmth that washed over them when they entered the sweet shop. James took Sirius to see the new sweets that'd recently been brought in, Peter starting picking up things he couldn't carry on his last trip, and Lily, Remus and Sarah walked towards the chocolate.

"You should go talk to him," Sarah whispered to Lily, picking up a large chocolate bar and examining it. Remus was across the room, and couldn't hear them.

"Why would I ever do that? I don't want to associate with James Potter; I'm only here because you asked me to stay." Lily answered, hoping that her tone displayed her wish for the end of the conversation.

"I never mentioned James," said Sarah, turning her whole body to face Lily, grinning. "You brought him up. I think you want to speak to him. Subconsciously." She added the last part upon seeing the death stare Lily was giving her.

"No." Lily said, flatly.

"Fine," sighed Sarah, and then added under her breath, so that Lily could only just make it out, "except you do." Lily said nothing, not because she agreed with her, but because she was desperately trying to convince herself that Sarah had brought up James Potter. She moved away, leaving Sarah standing on her own. There were footsteps coming from the doorway, and Sarah turned to see James and Sirius entering the room; Peter was still in the front room.

"And how are we all doing in here?" said Sirius, beaming; liquorice wands sticking out of his pockets. Lily turned and saw Sirius and James, and then narrowed her eyes at Sarah.

"I haven't moved from this spot!" Sarah said, laughing. "I didn't do anything!"

"What?" James said, looking confused.

"Nothing," Lily said sharply. "...hello," she added as an afterthought. James' hand moved to his hair when she looked at him. She rolled her eyes and turned around.

"I'm probably not even going to end up eating all of this," sighed Sarah, looking down at the enormous chocolate bar she was holding.

"Don't worry, you can give the rest to me," said Sirius.

"Oh, how very thoughtful of you!" she laughed. She left to pay for it, and James walked over to Lily.

"Hello Evans," he said, politely.

"Potter," she nodded.

"Why don't you ever call me James?" he asked, his hazel eyes scanning her face and taking in her beauty; his nose drinking in her scent. Lily shrugged.

"I haven't called you James in five years. Seems weird."

"You can call me James." Lily nodded her appreciation, but doubted she would ever call him anything other than 'Potter'.

"Are you okay?" he shifted his position so he was facing her, but so she didn't feel closed in.

"Yes."

"You're not."

"How would you know?"

"Because I know what you look like when you're happy, Lily. You're not okay."

"How do you know what I look like when I'm happy?"

"Because I've basically been in love with you for five years, Lily. I don't like it when you're hurt. You have a smile you can't force." Lily purposely smiled.

James laughed. "It's not in your eyes."

"What?" She was completely confused now.

"Your smile!" James cried. "Your smile isn't reaching your eyes. When you're happy, you're eyes sparkle. Your eyes smile." She wasn't sure whether she should be worried that James Potter could tell her mood just by looking at her, even though she'd made a point to ignore him whenever possible, or to be flattered that he had taken the time to notice these things. "You're not okay," he said again.

"I know," she said, defeated.

"It's because of Snape, isn't it?" She didn't answer, but she looked hurt when his name was mentioned.

"I'm worried about him," she sighed, turning to look into James' eyes. They actually looked concerned about her. He didn't speak, but just watched her. _He's actually listening,_ she thought. She carried on. "He's a good person. I've known him since before Hogwarts, and he's my best friend. He's not a bad person, but..." she trailed off.

"His friends are." James finished for her. She nodded.

"Lily, I'm not going to lie to you; I don't like him. But he treats you well. He doesn't treat _me_ well-"

"You don't treat _him_ well, either," Lily pointed out. James laughed once, quietly.

"True. It's like a cycle; he treats me bad, I treat him bad, so he treats me bad, so I...you get it. But like I was saying, if he's your best friend, he'll listen to you. He'll take your opinion into account, and he definitely won't do anything to hurt you," he paused, and then added, "I won't." Lily smiled up at him, at the side of James Potter she didn't know, but her eyes were still hurt. "Come here," he said, and he pulled her towards him, hugging her. He half expected her to pull away, but he felt her arms wrap around his body. An electric current shot through him at her touch, and he smiled to herself.

"James?" she said. It did feel strange, using his first name, but she felt like calling him by his last name would be wrong, after he'd tried to cheer her up.

"Yeah?" he asked, locking away the memory of the first time she called him by his first name.

"We're the only ones in here."

"What?" James said. Lily pulled away, and James looked around the room. They were alone. He laughed. "Merlin, they're quiet sometimes." Lily tugged his arm to indicate they were leaving the room, and he followed her. The others were paying for their sweets.

"You didn't get anything," Sirius pointed out.

"Yeah, don't feel like it." James replied.

"Me either," said Lily.

"Oi, you lot!" shouted Sarah from near the doorway. Remus was close behind her. "Are we going back to school or are you going to sleep here tonight?" Sirius looked like he was seriously considering sleeping here tonight, but Lily and Peter were already walking towards the door. Sirius turned to James.

"No, we can come back tonight if you want it so badly," James said, chuckling.

"No," Sirius said, shaking his head, "well, yes, we will be coming back tonight, but I meant, what were you two doing in there for so long? You don't even look injured!"

James smiled as he glanced back at the room. "Learning."


	3. Losing Some, Gaining Some

**I'm not sure whether I'm too happy with this chapter. I wrote it last week and only just redrafted it today. It's not too long, but it helps the story along. I've already written about half of the next chapter, because there was a part I really wanted to write, as it starts off one of the other storylines in this fic, so that one will probably be up this weekend or during next week.**

**Thanks to Scandalacious Intentions for reviewing! It made me realise I should fix this chapter up and get it posted.**

* * *

**Green-Tinted Affection**

**Chapter 3**

"Wake up." A pillow hit Lily Evans in the face, and she opened her eyes a fraction of a millimetre to see Pru sitting up on her own, pillow-less, bed.

"No." She rolled over, onto her stomach, and buried her face in her pillow. It was quiet for a second, and she heard Pru's bed springs creak, so she assumed Pru was getting up. She was right; Pru was getting up – to wrench her into a sitting position. Lily opened her eyes and glanced at the clock on her bedside table; 7:15am. "Pru," she said, her voice groggy and tired, "it's a Sunday. Why did you wake me up at this hour in the morning?"

"Because Snape's owl has just been at the window, and it woke me up. Here's the bloody letter."

"It couldn't wait?"

"Hey, I got woken up, I wasn't about to let you get away with sleeping." Pru climbed back into her bed, closed her eyes, and pulled her covers up to her neck. It was just possible to see she was curled up into a ball. It was an odd sight; this big, strong, tough girl, curled up into a tiny little ball, all warm and snugly in her duvet. Lily looked away from Pru, and turned to the letter.

'_Lil,_

_I'm really sorry about yesterday. Please don't stay mad at me. If you are mad at me, tell me what I can do to make it up to you. I'll do almost anything if it means you'll forgive me._

_Sev._'

Lily sighed, folding up the letter and placing it in her draw. She couldn't stay mad at Severus; he was her best friend. It wasn't like he'd actually done anything to hurt her. It was just his friends, and you can't be mad at a person because you don't like the people they're friends with, especially if the person has been your best friend since you were a little kid. She looked back at the alarm clock, 7:25am. She sat still in her bed for a moment, before clambering out of it and pulling on some clothes. When she was washed and ready, she made her way down into the common room.

"Lily!" she heard someone call. Lily turned around and saw James Potter descending from the boys dormitories. Her first reaction was to turn and walk away as quickly as possible, and a part of her was shocked when she didn't. James didn't say anything else, perhaps he was in shock at the fact she wasn't putting as much distance between them as possible as well.

"Yes?" she said after another moment's silence.

"Wha- oh! Sorry. Why are you up so early?" he asked.

"Pru woke me up; Sev's owl woke her up with a letter for me." James bit back the comment that had sprung to his tongue about Snape; Lily finally didn't hate him – they weren't best friends, but she didn't hate him – and he wasn't going to risk having to go another five years before she gave him a chance as a friend; never mind a boyfriend.

"Oh, so you're friends again now?" he said. Lily must have noticed the strange tone in James' voice when he spoke about Snape (like he was forcing himself to be civilised), because she peered at him suspiciously for a moment before answering.

"Yeah. He's my best friend; I can't just stop being friends with him because I don't like his other friends. He hasn't done anything to hurt me, has he?" James didn't answer. As far as he was concerned, upsetting Lily like Snape had done yesterday, whether it seemed a stupid thing to get upset over or not, was doing something to hurt her. He dropped the subject.

"So, are you coming down to breakfast?" he asked, gesturing towards the door.

"Umm, okay. But Potter?"

"Yes, Evans?"

"Please refrain from asking me out today." James looked as though she'd murdered his owl.

"Okay," he sighed. "I'll try my best. I'm not promising anything, but I'll try." He sighed once more, and then said, "To the Great Hall?" Lily watched him for a moment. She didn't quite understand why she wasn't ignoring him like she usually did. Perhaps Alice had been right for years; she _didn't_ actually know James Potter.

The Great Hall was almost empty, save for a couple of second year Gryffindors, a gaggle of Hufflepuffs, and a small collection of Slytherins; Severus Snape among them. Lily entered the Great Hall first, and Severus sat up straight in his seat upon seeing her; he was desperate to know whether she'd forgiven him or not. Lily looked over and smiled at him, and gave him a small wave to show that she had. Severus beamed, and was about to stand when Potter entered behind Lily. He watched him walking to Lily, and stood to walk over to him and tell him to leave her alone, but to his surprise, Lily turned and waited until Potter was walking at her side, before they went and sat together at the far end of the long Gryffindor table. Severus couldn't believe his eyes. Lily Evans, who had sworn she would never, _ever_ be friends with someone as ignorant, arrogant and conceited as James Potter, was...sitting and eating breakfast with James Potter, and she appeared to be doing it _voluntarily_. His eyes narrowed and he snarled, before sitting back down. One of his fellow Slytherins looked at him as he did this.

"What?" they asked him.

Severus thought about telling them what was bothering him, but decided he'd rather find out what was going on from Lily first. He looked down at his cereal and carried on eating. "Nothing," he answered, finally.

At the Gryffindor table, James was piling food onto his plate, but glanced up at Lily, grinning from ear to ear every other second.

"Will you stop it?" Lily laughed eventually.

"I'm still trying to convince myself I'm awake," said James happily, "I'm checking to see if you're still there, or if I'll look up and you'll have turned into...someone else." He had been about to say 'you'll have turned into Snivellus', but decided against it at the last minute. They were sitting facing each other, and Lily stood and reached across the table, before pinching James' arm with her nails.

"Ow! Hey!" he said, jumping back and rubbing his arm. She laughed and sat back down. "What was that for?!" he asked.

"I was proving you were awake."

James pouted and carried on rubbing his arm, watching Lily as she sat smiling and eating. Half of her red hair was tucked behind her left ear, and the other side fell at the side of her face, like a curtain. It glimmered in the light coming from outside.

"Moony, are we in one of those parallel universe things?" came the shocked voice of Sirius Black. He was standing with Remus and Peter a little further down from where Lily and James sat, "Because the Lily Potter _I_ know would never voluntarily sit with Prongs."

"Shut up, Padfoot," said James.

"I don't know whether to trust you, Anti-Prongs!" Sirius answered.

"Be quiet, sit down, and eat. I'm serious." James said.

"Ahh, well, now I definitely know we're in a parallel universe. My best friend of five years would _definitely_ know that _I_ am in fact, Sirius."

James shook his head and laughed, "You really need to get some new jokes, mate. That one got old the first week we met." Sirius shrugged and sat down next to James; Peter and Remus sitting down next to them.

"How long have you two been up for, anyway?" asked Remus.

"That depends on what time it is," answered Lily. Peter looked at his watch.

"Five to eight," he announced.

"Been down here since about half seven," said James, speaking into his cereal.

"Together?" asked Remus.

James opened his mouth to answer, but Lily was quicker. "We both got up at the same time," she said, "so we came down to breakfast together. So we weren't alone." James nodded, his lips turned down almost unnoticeably at the corners. Obviously, Lily didn't want anyone thinking anything they shouldn't be; she obviously hadn't decided whether or not she wanted to pursue this friendship. Sirius watched Lily and James for a moment, before shrugging and piling bacon and eggs onto his plate.

They were shortly joined by the Gryffindor fifth year girls, who thought it strange that Lily would be eating alone with the Marauders, but decided that they would question her about it in their dorm, later, where they would be alone. When they'd eaten, Lily and the girls stood up to leave the halls, exchanging quick goodbyes with the boys.

Somebody tapped Lily on the shoulder in the entrance hall, and said, "Lily, can I talk to you a minute?" She turned around and saw Severus standing there, so she nodded, told her friends she'd catch up with them in a bit, and walked outside with Severus.

"What was that about?" he said when they'd reached a place they were alone. He had stepped in front of her, and turned to face her.

Lily blinked, confused. "What?"

"You and Potter."

"What about me and Potter?"

"You hate him. Why were you eating with him? Alone!?"

Lily furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at Severus; he was a couple of inches taller than her. "I can eat with whoever I _want_ to eat with, Severus."

"But why Potter? You've hated him since you were eleven; we both have!"

"Because I wanted to, Sev!" she shouted. "Look, we were both coming down to breakfast on our own, so we figured we'd eat together! I didn't think it had anything to do with you who I choose to hang about with!"

"But Potter's trouble, Lil! We both know it!"

Lily narrowed her eyes, and Severus instinctively took half a step back, sensing the approaching storm. "Potter is trouble? Potter!? At least Potter doesn't go around hexing muggle-borns! At least Potter isn't obsessed with the Dark Arts! At least Potter doesn't hang around with people who he _knows_ wouldn't care if his best friend were killed!"

She'd struck a nerve. "I—Lily—I don't—I mean..." Severus spluttered.

"Save it, Sev! You don't want me hanging around with Potter even though you hang around with people who want me dead? Who would gladly be the ones to kill me?! Take a good look at yourself and your friends before you come up to me telling me to stop being friends with somebody!"

"Potter hates _me _just as much as the guys hate—" Severus started. Lily looked appalled.

"He doesn't want you dead, Sev. In fact, when I told him this morning that I was still friends with you, he didn't say anything bad about you at all. He didn't try to convince me that I shouldn't be friends with you, and he didn't try to tell me that I shouldn't be friends with a person because of their heritage. I can't believe you, Sev!" And at this, she stormed passed him, and back into the castle.

She was running through the entrance hall when she heard her name called. She turned, and James Potter was looking at her as he exited the Great Hall. He looked worried, and she glared at him and carried on running up the stairs.

"Lily! Wait!" he shouted, running behind her. The other Marauders looked unsure whether to follow or not, but decided it was best if she wasn't crowded around. It was at the portrait hole that James caught up to her. He put his hand against the wall, blocking her way in.

"Move, Potter!"

"Lily, you're crying. Do you really want to be running through a common room full of people who are all going to want to know _why_ you're crying? Do you want everybody watching you? Do you want everyone asking you what's wrong?" Lily continued to glare at him, but she relaxed her body. "Come on," James whispered, and placed his arms behind her shoulders, guiding her, not quite touching her, but ready to hold her.

"Where are we going?" Lily said, sniffing. She hadn't noticed she'd been crying until James pointed it out.

"The Room of Requirement. You can cry in there without everybody bothering you." Lily didn't know which room he was talking about, but decided not to ask. She didn't want to cry at all, but she decided that crying with just one person there was far better than crying when she was surrounded. He led her to a strip of tapestry, moved in front of her, and walked quickly passed it three times. A door came into existence, and he ushered her through it.

There were big, comfy arm chairs in the room, with a table between them, which held a box of tissues. James gestured for Lily to sit in one of them, and he occupied another himself.

"What is this place?" she asked, looking around the room.

"The Room of Requirement," James repeated. "It changes into whatever the person wants it to be. Now, do you want to tell me what's up?" He wasn't telling her to explain, he was giving her two options; to explain what was wrong with her and cry, or to cry, but keep the problem from him. The crying part was inevitable. She plucked a tissue from the box and wiped at her eyes.

"It's nothing, really," she said, her voice muffled by her arms as she dried her face. "I just had another fight with Sev."

"About?" James asked, softly.

"He..." she started, but she didn't know whether or not to tell James the fight had been over him or not. She opted not to lie to him, but not to zoom in on the details. "He doesn't like some of the people I've been hanging around with. I told him they were better people than those he is friends with. I said at least they don't discriminate against people because of their heritage. At least they don't want my best friend dead." She could feel the tears climbing onto her eyes, and she squinted, to try to stop herself. She could see the water shaking as she shook slightly and attempted to stop the tears from escaping. James must have noticed her shaking, because he stood and picked up another tissue, and moved next to her on the chair, wiping her eyes. She knew she should take the tissue from him so he would move away, but she was tired from holding back her tears. James didn't ask any more questions, but just let her cry, handing her new tissues whenever he felt she needed them, his arm behind her back and rested on the opposite chair arm.

When Lily had cried all of the tears she had, he picked up another tissue and wiped her cheeks, holding he face. Lily found the strength in her arms, and reached up, taking the tissue from him. He took the hint and dropped his arms.

After a few more moments of dry sobs, Lily wiped her face once more, to make sure it was dry. She then stood up to go back to the common room, where she could finish up some homework to take her mind off her so-called-best-friend.

"How do I look?" she asked, turning to face James. He looked at her. Her eyes were red and puffy, her hair was slightly static from when it had rubbed against the chair when she shook whilst crying, and ugly red splotches covered her face from her tears. He decided not to lie.

"Beautiful."


	4. Situations

**I tried to upload this yesterday, but it wouldn't work. It would've been up sooner, but I didn't have a lot of time to re-draft, but it's here now, so, let the reading commence!**

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**Green-Tinted Affection**

**Chapter 4**

_2 weeks later._

"You didn't! Pru, please say you're joking!" cried Lily. Pru, Lily and Alice were in their dormitory; Pru said perched on the end of the bed, her elbows rested on her knees and her face buried in her hands, Alice said cross legged on her bed next to Pru's, and Lily was pacing in front of them.

"I know! I'm a disgrace to the female gender!" Pru whined, looking up, disgusted with herself.

Lily had entered the dormitory to find Pru sitting staring blindly into the wall in front of her, Alice with her hand on Pru's shoulder, trying to bring her back. "_What's up with her?"_ Lily had asked. "_She," _Alice had started, looking sadly at Pru, "_...she...her and Sirius were fighting, and they were shouting pretty loudly. They heard Filch coming, and Sirius had just set off a load of dungbombs, so they hid inside a broom closet-"_ Lily interrupted at this point, "_Why did Pru hide if Sirius set them off?_" she has asked. "_Because it was Filch, Lily. He would have found a way to blame it on her as well. So, anyway, they were in this broom closet...and they were still fighting, in whispers...and then...and then they kissed._"

"I shouldn't have let him! I should've beaten him into a pulp! Why didn't I beat him into a pulp?!" Pru was shouting now.

"Calm down, Pru! It's not that big a deal!" Lily shouted back. Pru snapped her head up to look up at Lily.

"Not a big deal?" Pru repeated. "Not a bloody big deal, is it Lily? I get snogged by the most repulsive being on the planet and you say it's _not a big deal_?! Just because you don't hate Potter any more, just because you're all lovey-dovey, bestest friends with Potter, doesn't mean I feel the same way about Black!" she looked genuinely angry at Lily.

"'_Lovey-dovey, bestest friends_'? I stopped hating Potter for no reason Pru, that hardly makes us 'lovey-dovey, bestest friends'! I meant it's not a big deal because it was one kiss! We're not twelve anymore, Pru! It's a kiss, it's not like you're married! You're the one making a big deal out of it! Okay, so I was a little shocked at first, but it's not like it was Mulciber! It was just Sirius! Don't you dare start on me because you kissed Black!"

Pru was momentarily lost for words. She was shocked; Lily hadn't spoken to her like this in the five years she'd known her, but, to be fair, she _had_ started on her. She sighed, looking down at her feet and then back up at Lily. "I'm sorry, Lil." Lily had her arms folded tightly across her chest. She didn't answer at first, but then she relaxed her body, nodded, and then sat down next to Pru.

"Come down to the common room now and get on with your life," she said. Pru smiled and she and Lily stood, as Alice leapt off her bed.

"Maybe if you're lucky, darling Sirius will be there!" Alice laughed. Pru shot her a death glare, and Alice quickly stopped laughing. When they entered the common room, they saw the Marauders sitting around a table on the far side of the room, leaning in and talking in hushed voices. Peter, James and Remus glanced towards the girls, then back to Sirius, and said something the girls couldn't hear. Sirius shook his head.

Lily and Alice looked at Pru, and hurriedly sat down. "You don't know they're talking about you," Lily pointed out. "They could easily have just been looking who had just come down from the dormitories; they could be talking about anything! Probably quidditch or something stupid like that." Pru raised one eyebrow as she looked at Lily, who shrugged. "They could be," Lily said, replying to Pru's unasked question. Pru shook her head, and leaned back into the arm chair she was occupying, looking as if she was waiting for it to swallow her. Lily looked at Alice, who shrugged and took out her potions text book, a sheet of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink.

The four boys stood up and made their way towards the girls. "Hello Lily, Alice," said Sirius. "Caulfield," he added as an afterthought. Lily and Alice smiled and said 'hi', but Pru just looked up and nodded.

"Black," she said. "Remus, Peter, Potter." The three boys waved with their hands at their sides and smiled in response.

"So," Alice said, breaking the awkward silence that was depending upon the group, "what were you lot talking about so secretly over there?"

"A secret," Sirius winked, and Peter's eyes flashed to Prudence, who, unfortunately, noticed.

"And would I happen to know what this secret is, Black?" she said, looking away from Peter and glaring up at Sirius.

"Well, it _was _you who caused it," Sirius pointed out. Pru's mouth fell open and she jumped to her feet.

"I did not! Liar! _You_ kissed _me_ while I was in the middle of shouting at _you_!" she yelled. A few heads turned in their direction, but Pru turned to these heads with murder written on her face, and they quickly busied themselves with something else.

"I remember it a little bit differently, Caulfield!" Sirius shouted. "I never _asked_ you to hide in that broom closet with me! In fact, it was _you_ that pulled me in there!"

"I wasn't going to get detention for your childish little stunt! And I never asked you to kiss me!"

"Well, that would've made much sense seeing as how you were the one who kissed me, would it?" Sirius and Pru were inches away from each other, screaming in each other's face. Alice was perched on the edge of her chair, unsure of whether to join Lily behind Pru. James stood right behind Sirius, Peter stood a little away, and Remus stood a foot from James.

"Why would I want to kiss you, Black? You disgust me! And if I remember correctly, you were kissing back!"

"So you admit that you kissed me first? Because it's hard to kiss back if you're initiating the kiss!"

"No! I-" Pru started, but Sirius wasn't done.

"And even if _I_ kissed you, which I'm positive I didn't, Caulfield, you've admitted to kissing me too! You kissed me, regardless of who started it!"

"Oh, and you ran all the way back here to tell your little friends of your accomplishment, didn't you?! So proud, weren't you?!" Pru spat at him.

"I'm pretty sure you told Alice and Evans, Pru," James said, his voice raised only slightly as to be heard.

"Don't you start on her, Potter!" Lily shouted. James' face fell, but he knew he had to defend himself.

"I wasn't starting on her, Lily! I was saying it was unfair of her to say that to Sirius when she did exactly the same thing!"

"Trust me, she wasn't boasting when she said it!"

"I didn't say she was! Neither was Sirius!"

Two arguments were now going on in the Gryffindor common room; Sirius versus Prudence, and Lily versus James. Lily seemed to have forgotten the recent progress her and James had made with their friendship, and although he didn't stop arguing, hurt showed on James' face.

The portrait hole swung open, and Sarah entered, smiling. Her expression quickly changed to confusion when she saw the others fighting. She made her way over, and whispered to Alice, "What's happened now?" Alice filled her in, and Sarah stood and spoke up.

"Look, we're not little kids anymore!" Sarah said, raising her voice so she was louder than any of them. "You're all acting stupid and childish!"

"She's right, this is all over nothing!" Remus agreed.

"Oh, don't you start as well!" said Pru, turning to face Sarah. "And you haven't been acting stupid and childish for the last couple of weeks?"

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked, angry about the fact that Pru was now yelling at her, but utterly confused.

"You and Remus!" Pru clarified.

"Yeah, you two better sort something out and stop dodging around each other before you tell us _we're_ being childish!" Sirius shouted, standing beside Pru, and looking from Remus to Sarah.

"It's not as if nobody knows you like each other, so do something about it, it's getting really annoying!" Pru added, still shouting. Sarah looked hurt and angry, and Remus looked shocked. Sarah snatched up her book bag, and stormed up to the dormitory. Neither she nor Remus had admitted to their friends that they liked each other, partly because they weren't sure they did. It infuriated Sarah that Pru would scream something like that for the whole of Gryffindor to hear, especially since she wasn't sure what answer she would give if somebody asked her if it were true or not.

As she made her way up the staircase, she noticed that the shouts had died away. '_Oh yes, what better way to resolve your anger with one person than by screaming at a friend?_'she thought sarcastically. She threw her bag down at the foot of her bed, and angrily pulled on her night clothes before climbing into bed. She didn't bother to pull the curtains around her four-poster, as it seemed petty and childish to isolate herself after a few harsh sentences. Closing her eyes, she made a mental note to talk to Remus the next day, before drifting into a land that, after spending the last half a decade as a witch, took a lot of imagination to create.

The four Marauders were making their way back to the Gryffindor common room after Transfiguration; their last lesson of the day. McGonagall had given the class a two-foot-long essay to write, and they were not happy about this, but it was to be expected, as they would be taking their OWLs at the end of the year.

"No, I mean, they're not going to ask us to write enormous essays for every question in the test, are they?" Sirius asked irritably. "They're going to want a two or three sentence answer at most!"

"I think McGonagall thinks that if we can write a two-foot long essay, we'll be more likely to get the question right, mate," replied James. "And she can't just give us one question, can she? The question on the test might be different." Sirius muttered that it was still unnecessary, but didn't argue his point any further.

"Remus?" came a girl's voice from slightly behind the four boys. "Can I speak to you a minute?" The boys turned around to see Sarah McCarthy standing awkwardly in the corridor. Remus had hoped they could avoid the conversation they were about to have, but knew that after last night, that was not possible.

"Um, okay," he said, and he walked back to meet her. Sirius, James and Peter looked at him, but he nodded to tell them to go on. He looked uncomfortable, and Sirius felt a pang of guilt in his stomach; if it weren't for him and Pru, there was less of a chance that Remus would have to deal with this right now.

Remus and Sarah made their way down to the entrance hall, and out onto the castle grounds. It was cold outside, but it was dry. They walked over to the lake, neither saying anything until they sat at its edge, stationary. Sarah looked up at Remus as if she hoped he would start, but she knew that as she'd asked him to talk, it would have to be her.

She sighed, and began. "Remus, they were right, last night," she said, looking with particular interest at a patch of grass beside her foot.

"I know," Remus mumbled, looking across the lake at nothing in particular.

"I, err, we did kind of start avoiding each other, and it was getting a bit stupid..." she continued.

"Yeah," Remus whispered. Sarah felt awkward, as Remus was not supplying anything for the conversation, and was forcing her to say all the uncomfortable things they were both thinking.

"I, umm, I do think that I, err, I, err...Remus, I like you," Sarah said it very quickly, and her cheeks blushed pink. She looked up and away as soon as she said it, not wanting to see whatever expression was on Remus' face. She was suddenly very worried that she'd interpreted his signals wrong; that he would be disgusted or amused or that he would laugh. When Remus didn't answer for a moment, she looked back, half expecting him to have disappeared.

"I like you too, Sarah," he finally said, when she looked at him. Sarah smiled unintentionally, but Remus continued, "but I don't think we should go out together." Sarah's face fell, and she seemed to tense. She didn't answer, but shifted her position so that it was harder for Remus to see her expression. Remus was suddenly aware that he shouldn't have started the sentence in a way that gave the girl hope, and quickly tried to explain himself. "It's just, there's factors I have to consider and I don't think it'd work, and I really don't want to hurt you and I-"

"It's fine, Remus, really," Sarah said, cutting him off. "It's not the first time that I've had this conversation with a person, Remus, it's no big deal." She forced herself to smile, and pushed herself up from the ground. Remus stood and joined her.

"What do you mean, it's not the first time you've had this conversation?" he asked, confused. How many werewolves had this girl liked? Of course, she didn't know he was a werewolf...

"I've been in situations before were the person I liked has told me they didn't want to go out with me. It doesn't really bother me anymore, I never _really _expected anything. It's why I don't really bother with it anymore, which I think has led people to believe that I don't date as I'm 'obsessed with school work', or so Sirius says," she explained. Remus knew that this was meant to make him feel less guilty, but it made him feel worse. She had said she didn't bother with it, the dating thing, anymore, and exactly the thing she'd been avoiding had happened – again, apparently. He had a sneaking suspicion that she didn't really believe him when he said that he liked her, and that he was just trying to spare her some embarrassment. He wished he could show her differently, but knew there was no point, as it would just hurt her further. The rest of the journey back up to the common room was made in silence.

When they entered the room, Sarah mumbled a quick goodbye, and made her way up to her dormitory. Remus watched her go sadly, but soon saw that his friends were sat watching him, waiting for him.

"Well?" Sirius asked, excitedly. The first time in the five years that Remus talked to a girl he so obviously liked about them so obviously liking each other, was, in his opinion, a very big deal.

"Well what?" Remus asked, sitting down and busying himself with looking for something in his bag.

"Did you ask her?" Sirius said, grinning.

"Ask her what?"

"If she had any spare socks," James supplied; his voice thick with sarcasm. "Out, you idiot, did you ask her out?"

"No, of course not," Remus said, looking up at his friends confused. Surely they realised that due to his condition, or as James called it, his 'furry-little-problem', he would not have been able to ask her out.

Sirius eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Why?" he cried.

Remus raised his eyebrow. "You know why," he answered, annoyed that his friends were either acting stupid enough to ignore the blatant reason, or actually stupid enough to not see the blatant reason.

"Here we go," James sighed. "The whole 'I-don't-deserve-happiness-so-I'm-going-to-turn-down-any-chance-to-be-a-teenager' thing." James and Sirius looked at each other, stood, hitched Remus up by his elbows and began to drag him up to their dormitory, Peter following behind closely. Remus' cries of protest were having no affect, and he seemed to realise he was wasting his breath, as he soon shut up.

Fortunately, when they entered their dormitory, they were alone; Frank was still at dinner. They threw Remus onto Sirius' bed, as it was closest, and stood in front of him.

"Tell us why!" Sirius half-shouted. Remus sighed.

"Because," he said, with the air of someone explaining something to a toddler for the sixth time, "it wouldn't work. If she found out about by lycanthropy, she'd break up with me, and if I didn't tell her, she'd break up with me for keeping stuff from her!"

"No, Remus, she wouldn't," James said, sitting down on the bed next to Sirius' and looking at Remus. "For one thing, she doesn't seem like the kind of person who likes to invade people's personal space, and I doubt she'd expect you to tell her everything, especially if you didn't want to. And secondly, you heard her talking about werewolves the other week! She doesn't care! She's got exactly the right view on werewolves; they're still people."

"If she really liked werewolves that much, don't you think she'd have noticed already?" Remus pointed out. "Which means that she might not like werewolves as much as she makes out."

"Okay, I have a couple of comments on that, Remus," said Sirius, who still stood. "Number one; she barely spent any time with you outside of lessons, definitely not enough to be able to realise which days you disappeared on, because she didn't stalk you. Number two; how do you know she doesn't know? She's not likely to stroll up to you and go, 'Hey, Remus, are you a werewolf by any chance?'" He looked to James and Peter for support, and they nodded, so he continued, "Even if she did, you'd say no, so she might think it's easier if you tell her yourself _without_ her asking a potentially offensive question."

"Are you saying she knows?"

"No!" Sirius said exasperatedly. "I'm saying you're not giving this a chance and you haven't got a good reason why!"

After a minutes silence, Remus looked at his friends, and said simply, "It wouldn't work." He then muttered something about 'dinner' and headed out of the dormitory.

James stood up and stood beside Sirius, and looking at the door Remus had just exited through. "I hate it when he does that," he muttered. Sirius nodded, glaring at the door as if it had deeply insulted him, before deciding that he, too, was hungry, and dragging the other two down to dinner with him. They would work on Remus some more tomorrow.


	5. An Eventful Christmas Morning

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I meant to upload this last weekend, but I forgot. The next chapter is already completely written, I'm going to re-draft it now. I have the next week off school, so updates probably won't be so far apart if I can get a few chapters done!

**Thanks for waiting, I hope you ****like it.**

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**Green-Tinted Affection**

**Chapter 5**

December brought with it a blanket of crisp, white snow that hung lazily over everything it came into contact with. It was rare to find the students without their cloaks wrapped tightly around them and their hands buried in gloves or pockets.

Professor McGonagall was moving up the Gryffindor table, taking names of students who would be staying at Hogwarts over the holidays.

"We all staying then?" James asked as he added sugar to his cereal.

"No, James, I can't bear to spend any more time away from my beloved parents," Sirius replied sarcastically. "Stupid question mate, of course we are. Or I am, at least. What about you two?"

"Yeah, I am," said Peter immediately, who then turned to Remus. "What about you, Remus? Remus? Err, hello, Remus?"

Remus, who had been staring at the group of fifth year Gryffindor girls who sat further up the table, didn't notice his friends were speaking to him until Peter prodded his shoulder. "Huh? What?" he asked, confused, and irritated at being poked.

"Are you staying over the holidays?" Peter asked again.

"Yeah, I already told you all I was staying the other day," he said, before focusing on his breakfast, stealing glances at the girl who sat six seats away from him on the opposite side of the table. He didn't notice Sirius and James whispering to each other, watching his eyes wander up the table and snap back to his food every time Sarah McArthur moved ever so slightly. They all signed the parchment when McGonagall reached them, before heading off to their lessons for the day.

Alice and Sarah sat at the back of the classroom in Transfiguration, talking to each other out of the corner of their mouths whilst scrawling notes on human transfiguration onto their sheets of parchment.

"You're staying here over the holidays then?" Sarah asked Alice, who nodded.

"You?"

"I was going to go home, but my parents want to go skiing, and I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm extremely uncoordinated..." Sarah whispered.

"Oh no," Alice said sarcastically under her breath, "living with you for five years hasn't taught me that at all. It's not like you can barely go two days without tripping over your duvet when you try to get out of bed!"

"Shut up, Al," laughed Sarah. "But anyway, yeah, I'm staying. I'll see my family at Easter, and I doubt my sister misses me much anyway, she's just happy about having her own room!"

"You make out your sister to be horrible, but she was perfectly nice to me," Alice muttered.

"Of course she was nice to you! It's what she_ does_. She lets you all think she's an angel so you don't believe me when I tell you about her tying me up and stuffing me in the wardrobe!" Alice laughed at this, which earned her one of McGonagall's 'looks'. She quickly put her head back down and carried on with her note-taking. "Anyway," whispered Sarah, "who else is staying?"

"Err, Lily is going home, which she's not really happy about because her sister's 'walrus', as she called him, will be there. Pru is going home and so is Mary, so that just leaves me and you in our dormitory," Sarah groaned at this, and Alice kicked her under the table, "and all the boys minus Frank are staying." Sarah didn't miss the sad note in Alice's voice when she mentioned that Frank wouldn't be staying in the castle, but chose not to mention it, as there was nothing she could do about it.

"Christmas with the Marauders," she said instead. "This should be, err..._interesting_."

The bell rang signalling the end of class, and the two girls headed out of the classroom and made their way to the Great Hall for lunch.

"I heard Gregory Thompson likes you, you know," Alice said as they passed the Ravenclaw standing with a group of his friends.

"I heard that Xeno Lovegood dropped his obsession with the Crumple-horned Snorkak. Don't always believe what you hear, Al," Sarah replied without so much as glancing back at the boy.

"Yes, but I heard it from a reliable source, Sarah," Alice pointed out. They had reached the Great Hall and took their seats half way down the Gryffindor table.

Sarah raised her eyebrow, but didn't look up at Alice as she asked, "Oh yeah? Who is that, then?"

"I heard Jake Riley mention it to one of their mates the other day." Jake Riley was best friends with Gregory Thompson, so it only made sense that he'd know this sort of thing. Sarah, however, didn't look convinced.

"I barely know Thompson," Sarah said. "I've spoken to him about six times throughout all of our five years here."

"I don't think that matters much to boys, Sar. He could find out about you from other people," Alice replied. She wasn't putting any food on her plate, but was twisted in her seat so that her whole body was facing Sarah.

"Doubt it. It doesn't matter anyway, I don't like him."

"Who_ do_ you like then? Because every time we've talked about this the past couple of months you've changed the subject." Sarah didn't answer, but her eyes flickered down the table, to where the fifth year Gryffindor boys sat. She silently cursed herself for this, because she knew that it wouldn't have gone unnoticed by Alice, and she was correct.

"Still?" Alice asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Alice. And it's lunch, eat something," Sarah replied, gesturing towards the dishes that lay before them. Alice, however, didn't take any food.

"Are you going to ask him out?" Alice questioned.

"Who?"

"You want me to say it aloud?" Alice asked sceptically. "Are you going to ask him?"

"No," Sarah answered after a moment's pause. "That would just be awkward; he's obviously going to say no."

"Well then why don't you give another poor lad a chance?"

"I don't know, Alice! I just...there's just this thing holding me back. It'd be like I was lying."

"To who? Who would you be lying to, Sar?"

"I don't know; everyone? I'd be lying to myself by acting as if I didn't still like Remus. I'd be lying to Remus by acting as if I was over him. I'd be lying to the lad by acting as if I liked him more than I like Remus. I'd be lying to everybody else by acting as if that was the relationship I wanted to be in." Sarah said this all with an air of desperation; she wanted Alice to help her with this, but she knew it was a lost cause, as there was nothing Alice could do about it. Alice sighed, and began to get her lunch, making a mental note to observe Remus' actions, and possibly talk to Sirius if she saw fit.

Remus was greeted on Christmas morning with a pillow to the face from Sirius, who was standing at his bedside, grinning like a child on...Christmas morning. In fact, Sirius was probably more excited than most children. He allowed Remus to hit him back with the pillow, and then pulled Remus' bed sheets away. Grudgingly, Remus sat up in bed as Sirius burst into 'God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs'. The rest of the inhabitants of the dormitory, Peter and James, already sat at the ends of their bed, opening presents, with grins only slightly smaller than Sirius'.

When all of the boys had opened their presents and exchanged their gifts for each other, they made their way down to the common room, Sirius with a visible bounce in his step, the others not quite as wide awake as he was. They found the common room nearly deserted, as was usual for the holidays. A couple of second years sat in one corner, and Alice and Sarah sat curled up in two armchairs in front of the fire, smiling and chatting animatedly. In front of them was a small pile of unopened presents.

"And these two gorgeous ladies must be the last two of my presents!" Sirius said loudly as he sat on the edge of the arm chair in which Sarah sat.

"Sorry Sirius, I don't think Frank would take too kindly to you owning his girlfriend," Sarah pointed out, laughing.

"Oh, right. Well, what about you? Can I still have you?"

"Well, I don't have a boyfriend to argue against it, but unfortunately Sirius, I do quite enjoy belonging to myself," Sarah chuckled. Sirius pouted and slouched down into the seat of the chair, squashing Sarah up against the arm.

"Why haven't you opened your presents?" Peter asked, pointing to the pile of presents on the table in front of the girls.

"They're not our presents, Peter; do you think we'd actually sit here staring at our own presents?" Alice laughed. Sarah and Alice leaned forward and picked up four presents each, and then passed one to each of the boys. Sirius grin grew wider (shocking the others, who didn't realise just how big Sirius' mouth could stretch), and he threw his arms around Sarah, who was extremely shocked until she started laughing.

"Let go and open the bloody presents, Siz," she laughed.

"Okey-dokey, Shaz!" Sirius said, tearing the paper off a deluxe box of Zonko's goods and an enormous bag of Honeyduke's sweets.

"Don't call me Shaz," Sarah said, shaking her head, "It's not even short for Sarah."

"Don't call me Siz," Sirius said, winking. He stood up and gave both Alice and Sarah a friendly peck on the cheek, before squishing back onto the arm chair with Sarah. The rest of the boys had similar gifts, each one slightly different to the next. Remus pulled the wrapping paper of three large bars of Honeyduke's chocolate.

"How did you know this was my favourite?" Remus laughed, checking the tag on the paper and seeing it was from Sarah, who shrugged as best she could whilst pressed so tightly to Sirius and the chair.

"You mentioned it when we were in Hogsmeade the other month," she said simply.

"Did I?" Remus said, trying to remember.

"Yeah, just in passing," Sarah explained. "Sirius was trying to pick out a chocolate bar and you pointed to that one and said, '_Get that one, it's my favourite, the one you always steal_'."

"How did you remember that?" Remus asked. It gave him a funny feeling to think of her remembering small things like this about him. Again, Sarah shrugged (or tried to).

"I have a good memory for little things like that. You know, little things that don't seem important at the time, they just stick in my head," she said as she watched Sirius examine all of the products in his Zonko's gift. James and Peter were thanking Alice for their gifts as they sat at the foot of her chair, Remus perched on the arm. There was a strange, fiery feeling that came in little jolts in his stomach as he watched Sirius and Sarah push into each other and attempt to climb over each other in an attempt to claim the arm chair as their own. Sirius was trying to scoop Sarah up into his arms, as she laughed and pushed herself further back, tickling Sirius whenever he moved his arms so that he'd pull them back and she could try to slide behind him to take over the entire chair.

Remus stood up and headed back towards the dormitory.

"Oi! Where are you off to?" he heard Sirius call. He turned and saw Sirius head peeking over the top of the chair.

"Err, to get these girls their presents? It'd be a bit unfair to just take off them and not give anything back," Remus pointed out. He heard Sirius mutter 'oh aye!', and an awkward shuffling sound as he tried to stand from the chair. James and Peter were already standing next to Remus by the time Sirius had stood up. They heard Sarah shout out 'I WIN!' to Sirius as they were making their way up the stairs.

"Dammit!" Sirius muttered under his breath. "THIS ISN'T OVER SHAZ, WE'LL CONTINUE WHEN I RETURN!" he called back. They could faintly hear Sarah shout back "Okay Siz!" as they climbed up the last few stairs. They each pulled out bags of Honeyduke's sweets they'd bought a few nights ago for the girls when they figured it wouldn't do any harm to get them gifts, since they were spending Christmas together, and they were all friends. They were all glad they had done now, because it seemed that the girls had had the same idea.

The boys re-entered the common room, and approached the girls. James, Remus and Peter gave the girls their presents, who said thank you and hugged each of the boys. Sirius passed Alice her gift, and then turned to face Sarah, who, in the time Sirius had been upstairs, had spread out so she was taking up the entire chair. Her legs were draped over one arm and her head lay on the other, her body in the very middle of the seat so that there was no decent place for Sirius to sit.

Sirius stood in front of Sarah and folded his arms across his chest. "Sarah, I'm going to give you three seconds to move," he said, his face mockingly stern. Sarah looked back at him with a glint of defiance in her eye, much like that which was usually found in Sirius'. Sirius, sighed, and slowly placed her gift down on the table, before approaching the chair. He paused, and then quickly scooped Sarah up in his arms, Sarah letting out a squeal of shock.

"Sirius! Let me down right now or I promise you won't be waking up tomorrow!" she shouted. Sirius shrugged (which made Sarah lean in closer to him in fear of being dropped), and made like he was about to put her down, but instead, he stood up straight again, and shouted,

"Moony, catch!"

Sirius tossed Sarah through the air to the scared Remus, who stuck out his arms in a last minute attempt to catch the girl. Sarah slammed into Remus, who fastened his arms around her and she grabbed onto him as they tumbled to the ground.

Untangling themselves, they sat up on the floor, and looked at each other in silence for a moment, before bursting into laughter. Remus' arms were still wrapped around Sarah's waist, and Sarah's arms were still fastened around Remus' neck. It wasn't long before the whole group was laughing, squeezing their eyes closed as they did so. Alice, unnoticed, waved her wand at something on the ceiling a few feet away, which came flying, to settle above the couple who sat laughing on the ground.

When the laughter died down, Alice, feigning surprised amusement, said, "Eh, look! You two are sitting under mistletoe!" Everybody's eyes shot upwards, and sure enough, the plant now hung above Sarah and Remus. Sarah looked at Alice, who pretended not to notice Sarah's accusing stare.

"Go on then, Moony!" Sirius called. Remus and Sarah looked at each other awkwardly, and quickly looked away, each blushing, though they didn't loosen their holds.

"Come on, you have to, it's mistletoe!" Alice chimed.

"Come on Remus!" James was saying. James, Sirius, Peter and Alice watched the couple expectantly. Remus and Sarah met each other's gaze, both still pink in the cheeks, and slowly and awkwardly, both leant forward and pressed their lips against the others.


	6. A Musical Christmas Night

**Eek, not 100% about this one, but it helps with a future part.**

**Also, as you know, it's November 1st this Sunday, and since I'm doing NaNoWriMo, updates during November will be few and far apart, if any.**

**Reviews? Thanks a million for reading!**

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**Green-Tinted Affection**

**Chapter 6**

It was a full minute before Sarah and Remus pulled away from each other. They looked at each other again, the red that had left their faces down steadily climbing back into their cheeks. After a moment of silence, Sirius wolf-whistled, and the others laughed, looking away from the awkward duo.

"Merry Christmas," Remus mumbled into Sarah's ear. Sarah laughed a short, airy laugh, and took her arms from Remus' neck, who, after a moment, released his hold in her waist.

They helped each other off the ground, and as Sarah passed Alice, Alice whispered, "You're welcome!" Sarah made her way back over to the armchair that Sirius had forgotten to sit in with what had happened following scooping Sarah out of it, and picking up the present from Sirius, she made to sit in it. Sirius, realising he would be out of a seat, jumped in it before her, and they ended up squashed together on the same seat again, as they had been earlier that day.

Remus and Sarah avoided each other's gaze for the rest of the morning, each becoming extremely interested in whatever they were currently holding whilst talking to each other, though neither could keep the grin from flashing across their face in the middle of their sentences.

The group didn't go down to breakfast, instead, snacking on the sweets they'd bought each other for the morning, figuring they'd eat enough at the Christmas feast. To pass the time they played a few rounds of exploding snap, and discussed things such as quidditch, and muggle music (Remus and Sarah, Remus being half-blood and Sarah being muggle-born, were the main conversationalists when it came to the music).

Sarah and Alice had spent the morning in their pyjamas, as they'd come down to the common room quite early and had been too tired to get dressed. They left the boys in the common room and went to get ready.

"So, Moony," said Sirius, putting down a deck of exploding snap cards. "How have you been enjoying your morning?"

Remus raised his eyebrow as he regarded Sirius. "It's been fine. Why?"

"Enjoyed anything in particular?" he asked, his eyes flickering to the mistletoe that still hung from the ceiling. Remus sighed.

"Yes, it was great, and yes, it was something I've wanted to do all year, but it was a bad idea," Remus replied.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius said, shocked. "You kiss one of the prettiest girls in Gryffindor, and you say it was a bad idea? What's wrong with you?!" Remus shrugged and busied himself with straightening up the deck of cards. Sirius shook his head at Remus' unbelievable comment.

"No, Alice!" the boys heard Sarah shout from the staircase to the girls dormitory. "Go and put it back! Go on! No, Alice!" The boys couldn't make out Alice's words, but she seemed to be arguing back. Sarah entered the common room as she told Alice that "it hasn't left the dormitory in five years!"

"What are you two on about?" asked Sirius, looking up at the girls. Sarah was wearing dark blue, tight fitting jeans, a white vest top and a black jacket with the sleeves pushed up to the elbows. Alice was wearing a black skirt with red tights, a white T-shirt and a red jacket. She stood at the stairs clutching something that Sirius couldn't quite see from his position.

The girls either ignored Sirius' question, or didn't hear him, because they carried on arguing. "Don't you think it's time to bring it out then? Show it the rest of the castle?"

"Not really, Alice, no. It'd just sit down here doing nothing," Sarah replied, turning to face Alice and folding her arms across her chest.

"You could play it!"

"I'm not that good a player, Al! I don't want let other people hear it yet."

"Yeah, you keep saying that, but you have no problem playing it in the middle of the night!"

"It puts you guys to sleep! God knows how long you'd be up for if I didn't do that," Sarah said, laughing now. "Go and put him back."

"Him? What are you two talking about?" asked Remus, looking up now. Alice held out the instrument for the boys to see. She was clutching a black acoustic guitar. "You play guitar?" Remus asked, looking to Sarah.

"Some," she answered. "I always wanted to learn when I was a little, and my parents got me Joshua," she gestured to the guitar, "in year six. I brought him because it would've been a waste of money, otherwise. Started learning in first year."

"Why do you call it Joshua?" Peter asked.

Sarah shrugged. "It was my uncle's name. He passed away when I was little. He was a music teacher; played a bunch of instruments. His favourite guitar looked like this one."

"Oh, err, sorry," Remus said.

"Don't worry about it. I was six when he died; it was a long time ago."

The boys didn't know how to respond to this, so they quickly moved past the point. "Will you play us something?" James asked.

Sarah smiled, but shook her head. "I don't think so," she said.

"Why not?" Sirius asked, jumping up and bouncing over to the girls. He took the guitar from Alice and pushed it into Sarah's arms. "Please?"

"Another time. I'm not that good, anyway," she made to move back up the stairs, but Sirius moved in front of her and blocked her way.

"Please? What's the point in Joshua," he said, using the guitars name intentionally to personify the instrument, "sitting up in your dorm without anyone to listen to it but the same girls over and over again? Play it for me, Sarah."

Sarah sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine, I will. But tonight, not now. I don't feel like playing now, and it'll only be worse if I don't want to do it. No let me put him away." Sirius grinned and stepped aside, and Sarah darted up the stairs.

When the Gryffindors returned from the Christmas feast, they were in high spirits. Alice and Sarah were holding each other by the elbows and spinning each other round as Sarah sang a muggle song about living in a yellow submarine. They skipped ahead, and the boys followed behind, laughing as they watched the girls stumble, spin and skip.

When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, James had to shout the password to be heard over the laughter. They entered the common room and collapsed onto couches and arm chairs.

"Hey, Alice," laughed Sarah as they attempted to make themselves comfortable whilst sitting in the same chair.

"Yes, Sarah?"

"What's red and smells like blue paint?"

"I don't have any idea, what _is_ red and smells like blue paint?"

"Red paint!" Alice and Sarah collapsed into giggles, and the boys shook their heads at them.

"Err, Sarah, I'm sure you said you'd do something for us all right now?" Sirius said, grinning. Sarah's face fell.

"I thought you might've forgotten," she sighed. "Okay, okay, let me go and get him." She jumped off of the chair and ran up the staircase to her dormitory.

"Alice, I think you'd better go get her, she might not come down otherwise," Sirius suggested. Alice nodded and skipped up to her dormitory. The girls returned, Sarah looking like she just wanted to get this over with, Alice grinning manically.

Sarah sat down on the couch, and the others gathered around her. "Any requests?" she asked, and then added, "But I'm not singing."

"Why?!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Because I can't sing."

"You sang for us before," Remus pointed out.

"No, I sang _near _you before," Sarah corrected. "I don't mind if I'm singing while joking with my friends, but singing_ to_ people is an entirely different story." Sirius pouted.

"How about something by The Beatles?" Remus suggested.

"Which song?"

"You pick one."

"Okay, but they're not an easy band to cover. I don't think anybody can successfully, to be honest. And remember, if it's really bad, it's your guys' fault; you're making me do this!" Sarah adjusted the position she was sitting in, and began to play the guitar from 'She Loves You' by The Beatles. She looked down at her guitar for the whole song, more out of not wanting to meet the eyes of her friends as she played than focusing on the chords. When she finished, she slowly looked up. Her friends were smiling, and Sirius was clapping.

"More?" he asked.

"Okay, fine. One more," she said, feeling more confident. "This song isn't supposed to be played on guitar, but I'm going to try anyway." She straightened up, and began to play, as best she could, 'Wooden Heart', by Elvis Presley. It sounded strange, coming from a guitar and not an accordion, but not necessarily bad. She started to sing along quietly, becoming louder as the song progressed. With her newly-found confidence, she looked at each of her friends in turn. Sirius was swaying as he sat on the ground like a little child, beaming. Alice was smiling at her with a smug 'told-you-so' look on her face. Peter and James were grinning at her, leaning back in their chairs and letting the music wash over them. Remus smiled at her, holding her gaze for a fraction of a moment longer than was usual.

When this song was over, Sirius stood up. "Can I try?" he asked.

Sarah looked at Sirius, who looked much like an over-grown toddler. "Okay," she said after a few moments, "but be careful with him." She lifted the strap over her head, and put it over Sirius. Telling him to sit down, she adjusted his position, showed him how to hold the plectrum and how to grip the neck. Ten minutes later, he still had barely grasped the proper holding of the plectrum, and the group had dispersed. Alice was writing a letter to Frank, Peter and James were playing a game of Gobstones, and only Remus sat watching the lesson.

"No, Sirius, grip it like a claw! No, with your fingertips!" laughed Sarah, placing Sirius' fingers on the fret-board to play a C-chord.

"He's probably just doing this to annoy you, you know," Remus smiled.

"I know, I figured that out about three minutes after we started," Sarah said, shaking her head. Sirius looked up at her, shocked.

"How?"

"I saw you shift your fingers when you thought I wasn't looking," Sarah grinned at Sirius.

"And you let me carry on doing it wrong?"

"You were doing it wrong on purpose. It's your fault your fingers are hurting!" Sarah laughed.

"I can't believe you'd do this, Sarah McCarthy! I'm never speaking to you again!" Sirius joked.

"Ah well, we had a good run, Siz. I'll replace you with Remus," she laughed, going to sit on the armchair with Remus.

"You wouldn't!" Sirius cried, mocking shock. "Remus mate, come on, we're best mates! You wouldn't do this to me, would you?!"

"Sorry Sirius, but take this as my revenge on you for everything you've done to me in the past five years," Remus grinned, slipping his arm around Sarah's waist, who laughed and slipping hugged Remus in return. They sat, grinning at Sirius, who shook his head in disbelief.

"I hope you two have a happy life together," Sirius said, pretending to sob. He placed the guitar down on the couch, covered his eyes with his arm, and turned away from them, moving to another part of the common room. Sarah stood up and approached him from behind, placing a hand on his shoulder as she stood next to him, looking up at him with her head tilted to the side.

"Next time you try to trick me, you won't be forgiven so easily," she said. Sirius grinned and headed back to where Remus sat.

"Aren't you supposed to be the good, quiet one?" Sirius laughed.

"Actually, I've never been the good, quiet one, I'm just the nice one. We just didn't talk enough for you to realise that before." Sarah replied, as she picked up her guitar and made to take it back upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Sirius asked.

"Putting Joshua away."

"Why?" he whined, looking upset.

"Because, Sirius, I don't want him sitting down here and getting broken!"

"Bring him out tomorrow?"

"I don't think so, Sirius. Tell you what, I'll play for you on your birthday," she told him. He grinned and nodded, and she carried on upstairs.

Sirius waited until he was sure she was gone, before whispering to Remus, "So, why do you think kissing her was a mistake again?"

"Because," hissed Remus, not wanting Alice to overhear and tell Sarah before he had a chance to tell her himself, "I can't go out with her anyway, it was just mean!"

"Why can't you go out with her? Nothing is exactly stopping you," Sirius pointed out. Remus shook his head to signal the conversation was over, and moved away, to sit near Alice. Sirius watched him, wondering what went on inside a werewolves head.


End file.
